


Family, Not Responsibility

by Pippinpaddleopsicopolis (Barnable)



Series: They're Counting On You [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Animals, Book 2: Earth (Avatar), Day Five: With Animals | Hair, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Gen, Light Angst, POV Aang (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Sokka Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27395509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barnable/pseuds/Pippinpaddleopsicopolis
Summary: Aang finds a beautiful creature and calls Sokka over to see it. They end up sharing a lot more than the view.
Relationships: Aang & Sokka (Avatar)
Series: They're Counting On You [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995538
Comments: 9
Kudos: 107
Collections: Sokka Week 2020





	Family, Not Responsibility

“Hey, Sokka, come check this out!”

In all honesty, Aang knew immediately that Sokka wouldn’t be as enthusiastic as he was, but he didn’t care. Sokka was his friend and he wanted to share the things he loved with him. Animals were one of the things he loved. The only problem was that whereas Aang saw animals as friends, Sokka tended to think of them first as food.

“What?” asked Sokka, yawning as he walked over from the campsite. He was still half asleep, dragging his hair back into a wolftail as he moved. “You’re not just going to show me more bugs again, right? Or are you going to pretend that’s _not_ what you’re doing and sneak one on my shoulder?”

“No, look!” Aang pointed up at the trees ahead, grabbing Sokka’s arm to yank him down behind the bushes. Sokka let out a squeal, crashing to his knees and glaring over at Aang as he searched for the hair tie he’d yet to finish with. Aang only exaggerated his gesture further. “Come on, Sokka, look! There’s a cat owl in that tree. Do you see it?”

“A cat owl?” He made a face, his gaze following Aang’s up into the tree. Sokka pushed a hand through his hair, trying to pull it out of the way with one hand and still trying to find his hair tie with the other. “Aren’t those things nocturnal? It’s probably rabid. Do you know if you can eat rabid cat owls? Birds _are_ usually pretty tasty, but I don’t want to risk getting sick.”

And there it was. Aang sighed, turning to lean against a nearby rock. Of course, Sokka couldn’t just look at the animal for its beauty, he had to wonder whether it was something they could eat. Somehow, Sokka didn’t seem to think that was a problem or didn’t realize why Aang was giving him that look, because all he did was shrug. His fingers inched toward his boomerang but didn’t actually hit it. He was probably too afraid of disease.

“Why do you always think animals are food?” asked Aang suddenly. Sokka frowned, and Aang was quick to elaborate, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. “I mean, I’m okay with you eating meat. That’s your business. But not _every_ animal has to be looked at as food. Like, would you think of a platypus bear as food?”

“Honestly? I probably would, yeah.” Sokka pulled his hair back behind his ears, sighing when his gaze failed to locate his hair tie. “I don’t think you understand what it was like, Aang. Growing up in the Southern Water Tribe, meat was really all we had. I can’t tell you how many times I went to sleep hungry because we didn’t have enough to eat.”

“Wouldn’t they put the children first?”

“Yeah, but you have to understand that I was the oldest kid there. I felt like I had a responsibility to my people. To my family. If it was between me and Katara, she got the food. Same goes for my Gran Gran, and all the younger kids in the tribe. When it comes down to me and the people I love, the people I love come first. Always.”

It wasn’t the situation that made Aang frown but the realization that, despite his enthusiasm when they were presented with snacks or feasts during their travels, Sokka _didn’t_ eat that much. In fact, the longer he stared at him, the more Aang noticed that Sokka almost looked like he’d lost weight since the first time they met. It wasn’t right.

“You don’t feel like you have that duty anymore, right?” asked Aang gently. Sokka turned away, and that was all the answer he needed. “You’re just as important as the rest of us. Me, Toph, Katara, we couldn’t do this without you.”

“I know that, but I also know that sometimes we’re between places for a long time and I have to make sure you’re all taken care of.” Immediately after he spoke, Aang almost wanted to interject, to tell him that taking care of them wasn’t his job because they were a team, but he gave Sokka the chance to elaborate instead. “I’m fine, Aang. Seriously. I don’t mind having less to eat if it means you guys get what you need.”

“Yeah, but I mind it. Toph and Katara would too if they knew you were doing that. I know that food is scarce sometimes, but you can’t just give up your food for us, Sokka. We’ll all eat less if it means that you can—”

Apparently, someone was listening in on their talk, because Momo flew down out of nowhere and dropped a handful of nuts on their heads. Sokka made a face, swatting at the nuts and messing up his hair again in the process, while Aang laughed and popped one into his mouth. It might not have been the most graceful way to help but Aang knew that Momo was doing his best, so he rewarded him with a pat on the head.

“Was that really necessary?” Sokka grumbled, spinning his head around for another quick look. Nothing. At that point, Aang was pretty sure the bugs he was so worried about in the beginning had come and scooped up his hair tie themselves. “Anyway, thanks for the concern, Aang, but I’m fine. Seriously. It’s not even like it’s an all the time thing, just when we’re kind of out in the middle of nowhere and there’s not much to go around, you know?”

“Okay. But I still think you should make sure you’re eating enough.” He didn’t mention the apparent weight loss. Sokka probably noticed his sharper jawline himself. “Want to go for a walk and see if we can find some berries or something? There are _tons_ of plants here, there has to be something we can eat.”

“I— sure. Why not? Let’s go for a stroll in these ridiculously big woods and when we get lost, Toph can come find us and drag us home.”

“Perfect!”

Aang was well aware of the fact that Sokka was joking and also that the only reason he stood up was because Aang latched onto his hand and pulled toward the trees. He let go once he was sure Sokka was really following him, looking all around for signs of edibles such as berries or more of the nuts Momo dropped on them. Momo flew at their side as well, twisting around the trees and weaving in and out of the bushes.

Though he was expecting more sarcastic comments given how it started, Sokka was quiet the whole time they walked. Aang wanted to say something to him, but he didn’t know what, and filled the silence with random stories that came to mind. Sokka laughed sometimes, commented here and there, but he never really joined in. He never tried to join the conversation in the way he usually did.

When Aang finally stopped talking and walking as well, it wasn’t because he gave up. No, it was because he came across something better. He held a hand up to Sokka, placing one finger to his lips and glaring when Sokka rolled his eyes. This time, he wasn’t going to let Sokka make a sound and scare off the animals. Not when the baby saber-tooth moose lions looked so adorable, sleeping beneath a tree without a parent in sight.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” Though he kept his voice low, Sokka almost immediately turned to walk away, slowly shaking his head. “Aang, we are not getting any closer to those things. They might look cute now, but believe me, you don’t want to meet their mother.”

“I know, Sokka, I was there.” Aang shot him a look, leaning forward on the bushes they were hiding behind. “Just calm down, okay? Their mom isn’t even here. They’re just babies. Look how cute they are!”

“Look how tasty they look!” Sokka’s tone was joking, but it made Aang remember what he was doing there. He took a deep breath, turning around to look at Sokka with a serious look on his face. Sokka frowned. “What?”

“When was the last time you ate?” They’d been between villages for a few days at that point and suddenly, Aang couldn’t stop himself from feeling concerned. Sokka only shrugged in response, and that wasn’t a good enough answer. “It’s been more than a day, hasn’t it?”

“We were on Appa all day yesterday.” His voice was low, the shame not light in his tone. He clearly knew that Aang wouldn’t be happy with his answer, but he chose to be honest anyway. “We barely had anything left. I slept most of the day anyway. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. You shouldn’t be going days without eating, Sokka. It might not seem like that much to you, or maybe it even feels like a good thing because you think you’re helping us, but we care about you too. It’s not fair to you to have nothing to eat.”

“Actually, it is fair because I’m just looking after you guys. I couldn’t live with myself if you weren’t okay.”

“But we _are_ okay,” Aang insisted. He understood that Sokka had a hard time believing that, that it was okay for him to look after himself before the people he cared about, but he didn’t know how to help him through it. “We’re your family, Sokka. We care about you just as much as you care about us and we don’t want to see you getting sick either.”

“I’m not going to get sick,” said Sokka, crossing his arms, “I’m just making sure that you guys are taken care of.”

“I know, you keep saying that, but you don’t have to look after us. We’re your _family_ , not your responsibility.”

“Well, if you think that’s true and that those two things are separate then I think you completely missed the point of what I just said back there.” Aang didn’t say anything, only giving Sokka a look and encouraging him to go on. “For me, for the way I grew up, family _is_ responsibility. I put the people I love above everyone and everything else and that includes myself. I know what you’re saying. I get it. But I’m not that person. I don’t think of myself when other people need help more.”

“That’s what you need to get over.” Again, Aang was careful with his words and his tone, doing his best to encourage Sokka rather than punish him. He didn’t do anything wrong. It was, as he said, just the way he grew up. The mindset he’d held ever since he was a child. “I know you think of yourself like the man of the tribe, but you were just a kid, Sokka. You still are just a kid. It’s not fair to put that much responsibility on yourself.”

“I know. But given the circumstances, it’s what I have to do. I don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, you do. You _always_ have a choice. And you can’t take care of us if you don’t take care of yourself too. What would you do if something happened to you? If you weren’t there to take care of us anymore? It’s okay to want to be there for us, but not if it’s at the cost of yourself. You matter too.”

“It doesn’t always feel like that.”

Sokka wasn’t speaking quietly to avoid waking the animals. He was doing it because he didn’t know how to speak louder, and Aang didn’t have to be a genius to figure that out. Sokka twisted his fingers around each other uncomfortably, glancing over to the saber-tooth moose lion babies as he chewed on his lip, clearly not ready to say anything else.

“You matter to us.” Aang shot him a smile, and Sokka lamely returned the expression. It wasn’t perfect but he tried and that was good enough. “Hey, you know what might make you feel better?”

“A nice long nap?” he asked, pushing one hand through his hair as he let out another yawn.

“No, petting the baby saber-tooth moose lions. Come on!”

“No, Aang, we are not—!”

Aang grabbed his arm before he could finish his objection, dragging him over to where the animals lay. He knelt down beside the babies, gently petting them on the head, and smiling when they looked up at him. Sokka was slower, but the look on his face was definitely one of pleasure too as he pressed two fingers to the top of one of their heads and stroking back.

“See?” said Aang, laughing when one of the babies started to climb on his knee. “Doesn’t this help? They’re so friendly!”

“Yeah, I guess they are,” Sokka agreed, his words giving away how much he liked it despite the vaguely annoyed, somewhat dejected look on his face. “But like I said before, it’s _really_ not the babies that I’m worried about. It’s what happens when their mom shows up. If she finds out I’ve been talking about eating animals, I’m pretty sure _we’ll_ be the ones turning into lunch.”

“You know, at first, I really thought you were exaggerating, but now I’m starting to wonder if maybe you’re not.”

“What are you…? Oh.”

Sokka didn’t even jump when he looked up to the saber-tooth moose lion in front of them. He just nodded, an entirely unsurprised expression on his face as he turned to Aang, looking for a way out. Aang only shrugged. He didn’t want to fight the mama. He knew that she was just trying to protect her family, and with Sokka at his side, Aang understood that better than ever before.


End file.
